Episodes

How do your intentions bring out the best in your family to have a successful homestay experience? What differences do the big city of Toronto and the west coast of Canada provide to an international student? In this episode, we chat with Rosalyn Benatar, a recent transplant from Toronto to Victoria, BC.

Mother’s Day, in North America where we are and in a large portion of the world, is May 12th. To mark this occasion, we give examples of how we mother our international students… Or not. It really depends on the situation, the student’s needs, and your own parenting views. Whether you actually have your own kids or not, you are still a homestay parent and this comes with some responsibility.

In this episode, we share our stories of Erin’s way vs. Mary’s way, of being a homestay Mom and the unexpected journeys it can take us on.

In this episode, we get into the difficulties of learning English and how you need to see the humour in embarrassing situations. When your student enunciates a word differently, this could result in miscommunication. We provide plenty of examples of how saying a word slightly different can lead to some very awkward situations. But we do it all in stride with plenty of self-deprecating humour.

In this episode, we share our top 5 reasons for hosting an international student. There are so many points, but these 5 things are the core of what we do and love. They encompass our own personal values and how those desires play a significant role in our everyday lives.

What happens when you open up your curiosity as a student or as a homestay parent? Education is essentially curiosity. We love this perspective from our guest on the show today. We really enjoyed our chat with Greg Demmons, who currently serves as the Vice-President of the Co-op Board and the original founder of Real English Victoria.

And we’re back! Thanks for listening to the show and being so patient waiting for new episodes. In this episode, we go through what happened and why we (mostly Mary) needed this unexpected break. In these moments, Mary realized how important rest is and wanted to share how this impacted the arrival of her sister’s student. Mary gives tips on watching out for signs of burnout and what you can do for yourself to get some self care and rest.

In this episode, we take you through the process of getting ready for the arrival of your student. Is the student bedroom made up? Got that extra house key ready? Those are just two main things you should have set up, but yes, of course, there’s always more. We’ve got lots of tips for welcoming your student into your home, culture, and a whole new country. Plus, Erin’s got some homework for you and your new student. Don’t worry, there won’t be a pop quiz.

In this episode, we are celebrating Chinese New Year. This year for 2019, CNY lands on February 5th and it’s the Year of the Pig. In Mary’s family, her big thing is her family’s New Year’s Eve dinner and since Erin has a Chinese student, we celebrated a pre-New Year’s dinner at her house.

In this episode, Erin gets ready to say goodbye to one of her long-term students. To Mary’s surprise, Erin didn’t cry during the episode, but trust that this is an emotional experience for Erin who bonded so deeply with her homestay daughter. Before we get to that experience and what Erin has planned for her goodbye, we take a look at Mary’s more practical and level headed approach. She’s not a hugger, but she may be turning to the dark side.

In this episode, we steer you through the journey of applying to become a homestay host to an international student. It’s quite the process as you do need to be vetted to host students, especially underage students, but don’t let that scare you. Every school will have a different protocol, but there is an application process you should go through. Once that is done, the rest of your homestay adventure will be less stressful. So grab a pen and get ready to jot some notes down on becoming a homestay host!